< Judges 8 >

1 And the men of Ephraim came and said to him, Why did you not send for us when you went to war against Midian? And they said sharp and angry words to him.
那時厄弗辣因人對基德紅說:「你去攻打米德楊時,沒有召叫我們,你為什麼這樣對待我們﹖」他們激烈的與他爭吵。
2 And he said to them, What have I done in comparison with you? Is not that which Ephraim took up after the grape-cutting better than all the grapes which Abiezer got in from the grape-cutting?
他回答他們說:「我所行的怎能比得上你們呢﹖厄弗辣因所拾的不比阿彼厄則爾所收的葡萄更好嗎﹖
3 God has given into your hands the chiefs of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; what have I been able to do in comparison with you? And when he said this, their feeling about him became kinder.
天主將米德楊的首領敖勒布和則厄布交在你們手中,我所能行的怎能與你們相比﹖」為了他這番話,他們對他的怒氣,就平息了。基德紅乘勝追趕米德楊王
4 Then Gideon came to Jordan and went over it with his three hundred, overcome with weariness and in need of food.
基德紅來到約但河,就渡過河;他與跟隨他的三百人,雖然都疲倦,仍繼續追趕。
5 And he said to the men of Succoth, Give bread cakes to my people, for they are overcome with weariness, and I am going on after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.
他向穌苛特人說:「請你們給跟隨我的人幾個餅吃,因為他們疲倦了,我還願意追趕米德楊的兩個王子則巴黑和匝耳慕納。」
6 But the chiefs of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna even now in your hand that we are to give bread to your army?
穌苛特人的頭目回答說:「難道則巴黑和匝耳慕納的手已在你的掌握中,我們就該把餅送給你的軍隊嗎﹖」
7 Then Gideon said, Because of this, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hands, I will have you stretched on a bed of thorns of the waste land and on sharp stems, and have you crushed as grain is crushed on a grain-floor.
基德紅說:「好罷! 幾時上主把則巴黑和匝耳慕納交在我手中,我必要用茨條和荊棘鞭撻你們的身體。」
8 So he went up from there to Penuel and made the same request to the men of Penuel; but they gave him the same answer as the men of Succoth had given.
以後由那裏上去,到了培奴耳,也向他們說了同樣的話;培奴耳人回答他也像穌苛特人一樣。
9 So he said to the men of Penuel, When I come back in peace, I will have this tower broken down.
他也對培奴耳人說:「當我平安回來時,我必拆毀這座碉堡。」
10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor and their armies with them, about fifteen thousand men, those of all the army of the children of the east who were still living; for a hundred and twenty thousand of their swordsmen had been put to death.
那時則巴黑和匝耳慕納正在卡爾科爾,他們的軍隊約有一萬五千人,這是全部東方子民所剩的軍隊,因為已有十二萬持刀的被擊弊斃了。
11 And Gideon went up by the way used by the people living in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and made an attack on the army when they had no thought of danger.
基德紅從諾巴黑和約革治哈東面,順著住帳棚人的路上去,當敵人自以為安全的時候,襲擊了軍營,
12 And Zebah and Zalmunna went in flight; and he went after them, and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and put all the army to the curse.
則巴黑和匝耳慕納落荒而逃,基德紅在後面追趕,捉住了那兩個米德楊王子則巴黑和匝耳慕納,並使全軍覆沒。
13 Then Gideon, the son of Joash, went back from the fight:
約阿士的兒子基德紅,從戰場沿赫勒斯斜坡回來,
14 And taking prisoner a young man of the people of Succoth, he got from him, in answer to his questions, a list of the chiefs of Succoth and the responsible men, seventy-seven men.
捉住了穌苛特的少年人,查問他。這少年人就給他寫下穌苛特的首領和長老的名字,共七十七人。
15 So he came to the men of Succoth and said, Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, on account of whom you made sport of me, saying, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna even now in your hand, that we are to give bread to your army who are overcome with weariness?
基德紅遂往穌苛特人那裏去說:「看! 這是則巴黑和匝耳慕納,你們為了他們曾譏笑我說:難道則巴黑和匝耳慕納的手已在你掌握中,我們就該把餅送給你疲倦的人嗎﹖」
16 Then he took the responsible men of the town and had them crushed on a bed of thorns and sharp stems.
他於是捉住那城的長老,用曠野裏的茨條和荊棘懲罰了蘇苛特居民。
17 And he had the tower of Penuel broken down and the men of the town put to death.
以後又把培奴耳的碉堡拆毀,殺戮了城內的居民。
18 Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, Where are the men whom you put to death at Tabor? And they gave answer, As you are, so were they; every one of them was like a king's son.
然後詢問則巴黑和匝耳慕納說:「你們在大博爾山上殺戮的那些人是怎樣的人呢﹖」他們答說:「他們像你們一樣,個個都像君王的兒子。」
19 And he said, They were my brothers, my mother's sons: by the life of the Lord, if you had kept them safe, I would not put you to death.
基德紅說:「他們是我的兄弟,是我母親的兒子:上主永在:如果你保留了他們不死,我也就不殺你們。」
20 Then he said to Jether, his oldest son, Up! Put them to death. But the boy did not take out his sword, fearing because he was still a boy.
他遂對自己的長子耶特爾說:「起來,殺死他們! 」但是這孩童害怕,拔不出刀來,因為年紀還小。
21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Up! Put an end to us yourself: for you have a man's strength. Then Gideon got up and put Zebah and Zalmunna to death and took the ornaments which were on their camels' necks.
因此,則巴黑和匝耳慕納說:「你親自起來殺死我們罷! 因為人怎樣,他的力量也怎樣。」基德紅就起來殺了則巴黑和匝耳慕納,拿去他們駱駝頸上的月牙環。基德紅辭王位及其末年
22 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, Be our ruler, you and your son and your son's son after him; for you have been our saviour from the hands of Midian.
事後,以色列人便對基德紅說:「你既然從米德楊手中拯救了我們,請你和你的子孫作我們的君王! 」
23 But Gideon said to them, I will not be a ruler over you, and my son will not be a ruler over you: it is the Lord who will be ruler over you.
基德紅回答他們說:「我不作你的君王,我的子孫也不作你們的君王,唯有上主是你們的君王。」
24 Then Gideon said to them, I have a request to make to you; let every man give me the ear-rings he has taken. (For they had gold ear-rings, because they were Ishmaelites.)
基德紅又向他們說:「我只向你們要求一件事:請將每人掠奪的金環給我。」原來依市瑪耳人都有金環。
25 And they gave answer, We will gladly give them. So they put down a robe, every man dropping into it the ear-rings he had taken.
他們答說:「我們情願給你。」於是舖開一件外衣,每人把所掠奪的金環擲在上面。
26 The weight of the gold ear-rings which he got from them was one thousand, seven hundred shekels of gold; in addition to the moon-ornaments and jewels and the purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and the chains on their camels' necks.
他所要的金環共有一千七百「協刻耳」重;此外尚有月牙環、耳環和米德楊王所穿的紫紅衣,及他們駱駝頸上的項鏈。
27 And Gideon made an ephod from them and put it up in his town Ophrah; and all Israel went after it there and were false to the Lord; and it became a cause of sin to Gideon and his house.
基德紅用這些金子造了一個「厄弗得」便成了基德紅及其家族的羅網。
28 So Midian was broken before the children of Israel and the Midianites never got back their strength. And the land had peace for forty years, in the days of Gideon.
米德楊在以色列子民前面屈服,再沒有抬起頭來。基德紅在世時,境內平安了四十年。
29 And Jerubbaal, the son of Joash, went back to his house and was living there.
約阿士的兒子耶魯巴耳回去,安居在自己家中。
30 Gideon had seventy sons, the offspring of his body; for he had a number of wives.
基德紅有七十個兒子,都是他親生的,因為他有很多妻子。
31 And the servant-wife he had in Shechem had a son by him, to whom he gave the name Abimelech.
他在舍根的妾也給他生了一個兒子,給他起名叫阿彼默肋客。
32 And Gideon, the son of Joash, came to his end when he was very old, and his body was put in the resting-place of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
約阿士的兒子基德紅壽終正寢,埋在阿彼厄則爾的敖弗辣,他父親約阿士的墳墓裏。
33 And after the death of Gideon, the children of Israel again went after the gods of Canaan and were false to the Lord, and made Baal-berith their god.
基德紅死後,以色列子民又去跟從巴耳諸神行邪淫,立巴耳貝黎特當做他們的天主。
34 And the children of Israel did not keep in their minds the Lord their God, who had been their saviour from all their haters on every side;
以色列子民忘記了上主他們的天主,曾從四周所有的敵人手中救了他們,
35 And they were not kind to the house of Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, in reward for all the good he had done to Israel.
也沒有恩待耶魯巴耳即基德紅的家,以報答他施於以色列的恩惠。

< Judges 8 >